Promises
by Walker16170
Summary: Hange notices something off with Levi, but she never expected him to react like this.


_**Levi**_

Living in the Underground wasn't a simple life for anybody who had had the unfortunate luck of experiencing it.

Every morning, instead of waking up to the bright, magnificent sun that Levi had grown so accustomed to, he vividly remembered seeing darkness, and darkness only.

Farlan used to wake up before Levi and make breakfast, so nonetheless, there was typically some form of artificial light seeping in from under Levi's door, but it was nothing compared to the glorious natural light that flooded through Levi's window that was currently waking him up every morning.

Levi also used to never have the opportunity to interact with animals, as there weren't too many animals flourishing in the Underground. Before Levi had had the opportunity to live in the Uppergrounds, he hadn't once seen a cat. He also didn't go to school, so he hadn't even heard of a cat. Once, when Levi had first been accepted into the Survey Corps, a stray cat had wandered around and had started meowing at Levi.

He had quickly turned around to see what the noise was, and jumped back when he saw the orange and white short haired tabby cat. It hissed at him and meowed even more, and Levi had just stared at it, dumfounded, until Hange had noticed his shock, and had come over to the cat to pick it up.

"It's called a cat, Levi. Did they not have those where you come from?" Hange joked.

"No, they didn't." Levi said, still staring at the cat. "The only animals that they had were dogs and insects, and a few stray birds."

Hange was laughing as the cat poked its nose against her cheek. She set it back down on the floor and it ran off.

"That's depressing. Cats are adorable."

"It hissed at me."

"It was probably scared." Hange assured him, patting his shoulder.

Since then, Levi had grown to love animals, and had promised himself that once he retired from the Survey Corps, he would own a cat.

But one thing that Levi would always miss from the Underground were his two best friends, Farlan and Isabel.

They weren't even really his friends, more like his brother and his sister. Levi always thought that he was responsible for their lives, and did everything in his power that he could do to protect them from harm.

When they had lived together in the Underground, Levi was the head of their thug group. He led the missions of their thefts, and took lead in all of their fights. He always tried to keep Isabel as far away from the predators as possible. Levi had no doubt that she could fend for herself, and successfully for that matter, but Levi was always afraid that one day, someone would finally test her strength enough and outmatch her.

As for Farlan, Levi tried to keep him in the middle. Farlan was a tall, strong guy, but he was too gentle sometimes, and that had worried Levi. If he was going to survive a fight with someone, he had to put everything he had into it. And if Farlan was just too afraid of hurting someone who was trying to hurt him, things wouldn't turn out well.

Levi tried to always keep himself on the front line, so that if there _was_ a devastating blow, he would be the one injured, not Isabel or Farlan. Levi could wait for himself to recover from being injured, but if he had to wait for his friends, that would be torture for him.

Levi had brought his concerns with him to the Uppergrounds. Fighting titans was no game. They were much larger than the tallest person alive, larger then buildings, and even larger than the walls now.

Levi and his friends were ants compared to them. So once Levi had been forced into the Survey Corps with his friends, he had only become more fearful for them.

ODM Gear was no longer simply a useful escape tool for when they robbed the nearest fruit stand, but rather a necessary tool for their survival and killing titans.

Levi's pocket knife was now not used as frequently, if at all, because no human had come and tried to harm him or his friends, and the titans weren't exactly going to be phased by a small, basic weapon. He now had to use his spears and swords to slice the nape of a titan's neck open in order to make sure that it wouldn't harm him.

And there were no more relaxing nights with Isabel and Farlan to simply relax, and sit by the fire and read a book, or to simply just enjoy each other's company as a family. Their nights were now spent planning their next attack on the titans, or training, or doing research about the titans.

Levi hated the Underground, but longed to go back to it. But he would have to tolerate it up here, and as long as he could keep his friends safe, he was satisfied.

But then came the day where Levi had stopped being satisfied. That horrible day where Levi had left them for twenty minutes, _just_ twenty minutes, and his world had come crumbling down.

The day where Isabel's body had gotten devoured by a savage titan, and Farlan bitten in half by a second. The day where, for the first time since he was a child, felt truly alone. The day-the _only_ day- where anyone from the Survey Corps had seen Levi cry.

And now, four years after that, Levi felt no different.

Today was her birthday, her twenty-second, to be exact. She would've been so excited, because she would finally be getting older, and thus, in her eyes, more like Levi.

Because for as long as Levi can remember she had tried to be like him.

Levi would have to remember to light a candle for her today.

He was lost in thought, not bothering to listen to Hange's rants about her crazy titan experiments.

He would get a cupcake for her, and sing happy birthday to her. Her favorite color was pink. It would have to be a pink one-

"Levi?" Hange said, snapping her fingers in front of Levi's face.

"What, Four Eyes?" He asked, annoyed.

"I'm telling you that Erwin said that we weren't going outside the walls today, just training."

That was oddly convenient for the fact that it was Isabel's birthday today, but Levi supposed that there was nothing harmful about toning down the action on her birthday. Then again, Isabel would love more action.

"Levi." Hange said, as she touched his arm. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Levi lied.

"Tell me the truth, Levi."

"I said, _nothing_." Levi said, beginning to get irritated.

"O-okay… are you ready to leave yet and begin training?" Hange asked.

"Yes." Levi stated, as he stood abruptly and began walking towards the doors leading outside.

 _ **Hange**_

Once outside at training, Levi was not as skilled as usual. To any soldier, it was unnoticeable. But to anyone who personally knew Levi, something was off.

No one said anything, as Levi might just be having an off day, might just be tired. But to those who _really_ knew Levi, they would know that Levi was _always_ tired and didn't _have_ off days- specifically Hange.

Hange had fist suspected that something was bothering Levi in the dining area, where he was constantly staring off into space and dismissing everything that she had to say. Normally, Levi would at least pretend to listen to Hange when she spoke about her titan experiments, or would actually listen and criticize her for how crazy she was. But today all Levi had done was stare off into space, thinking about who knows what.

Then, outside during training, Levi had appeared slower than usual, and actually missed a couple of targets, which was highly unlike him. She could see in his face that it was bothering him too, having been off at least even once.

Then, what had really set her off, was when at lunch, Levi didn't wash his hands before eating. Now, most people would find it annoying to have to wash their hands before _every_ meal, _every_ time, but Levi never missed a beat when it came to cleanliness. Hange knew he couldn't stand the thought of germs resting on his hands as he put things into his mouth, into his digestive system. But nonetheless, Levi hadn't even glanced at the sink as he walked into the dining area, again lost in thought.

Hange decided that this was enough, and went to investigate what was bothering him.

"Hey, Levi?" She asked.

"Yes, Hange?" Levi answered, without looking at her.

And there was the fourth strange thing. Levi hadn't bothered to insult Hange with his famous remarks of calling her Four Eyes, or Shitty Glasses.

"You've seemed rather…um… strange today. What's wrong?" Hange asked

"Nothing is wrong." Levi answered, curtly.

"Then why didn't you insult me in some manner during your answer?"

"Because, Shitty Glasses, sometimes, as hard as it is to believe, I don't insult you."  
"Okay. Acceptable. Then why were you distracted this morning, while I was talking about my experiments, and why did you seem slower today during training, and please explain to me how after all these years I've known you, you have washed your hands before every single meal ever and then suddenly you just don't one day for no reason?"

Levi stared at Hange incredulously. "Have you been watching me?"

"Yes, Levi, I have, because I'm worried about you!"

"Well, there's nothing to be worried about, because I'm fine."

"You're lying."

"Hange, I'm fine, so please, just leave me alone!" Levi said, storming off in the other direction, towards his room.

 _Give him some time to cool off. You'll talk to him once you eat._ Hange told herself.

So, Hange ate as normal, and then exited the dining hall in search of Levi's room, where Levi was probably hiding away from her.

She didn't bother to knock on the door as usual, and just opened it to see Levi sitting on his bed against the wall, knees drawn up to his chest.

He jumped at the sound of the door opening before realizing that it was her.

"Go away, Hange." He said, roughly.

Hange ignored him and sat down on the bed beside him. Hange only now realized, Levi was shaking.

"Levi? Are you okay?"

"Go away." He repeated.

"Levi, look at me." Hange ordered.

"Hange- "

"Levi, look at me." Hange said, again.

Slowly, and with much sourness, Levi turned his head and looked up at Hange with narrow, wet, red rimmed eyes.

"There." He said quietly. "Are you happy?"

"Oh, Levi." Hange said, pulling him into her embrace.

Hange had half-expected Levi to shove her away and storm off again, but to her surprise, she found him settling into the hug and resting his head against her shoulder.

They stayed in that position for a few moments, before Levi said,

"It was her birthday today. Twenty-two, she would've been today."

For a moment, Hange didn't understand what Levi was taking about, but then she finally understood what had been upsetting him all day.

It was his old friend Isabel's birthday.

Hange remembered that Isabel had been like a sister to Levi, and also that she was brutally slaughtered by a titan, as well as Levi's other friend, Farlan.

Today being her birthday must've felt terrible for Levi, and that's why he was acting so off.

Hange pulled away to look at Levi, and he was no longer shaking. A single tear was tracing its way down his face, which was pretty good progress at getting him to open up to her, as Hange had never seen Levi cry, or show any emotion other than dry amusement for that matter.

Hange held Levi's hand in silence, as they both sat there in silence for a while.

Levi was the one who finally spoke up.

"Thanks, Hange." He said.

"No problem, Levi."

Hange got up, and went to leave, but looked at Levi once more.

"If you need me, just call me." She said, and in all honesty she meant it.

"I-I will." Levi said.

Hange smiled and left Levi's room closing the door.

A couple of hours later, after Hange had finished her research and experiments in the lab, she went to the dining hall to go get a banana before she went to sleep.

What she didn't expect to find was Levi sitting alone at a table with a pink frosted cupcake sitting on the table before him.

"Levi?" Hange asked, walking in.

"Oh, hi, Hange." Levi said flatly, staring at the cupcake.

Hange assumed it to be in honor of Isabel, as it had a candle in it. The icing was pink and close to perfect, and it was vanilla.

"Happy birthday?" Hange asked.

"I already sang it." Levi said.

"Oh." Hange said, sitting down next to Levi and staring at the cupcake, mirroring his actions.

After what seemed like a few minutes, Levi spoke up.

"Hange?" He asked.

"Yeah, Levi?"

"Do me a favor. Don't die before me."

Hange was taken aback. She hadn't expected Levi to say something so personal.

"I-I can't- "

"Promise me?" He said, looking at her, straight into her eyes.

"I won't." Hange finally said. "I promise."

 _ **The End**_


End file.
